The adjudicator, Mr Donald Finlayson, awarded Castlegore 1st Place in the section with 89 points, narrowly beating Johnston Star F.B. from Whiteabbey to the top spot. The band's conductor, Carol Waugh, was awarded the Conductor's Prize for best interpretation of the piece, and the band's percussion section was awarded the William Cupples Perpetual Cup for Percussion.
This was the first time in over 20 years that Castlegore A.F.B. has achieved such competition success, and is testament to the hard work put in by Carol Waugh over the last few years. In addition, 15 of the band's 28 performers on stage were under the age of 18, which shows that the band's youth development policy is paying dividends.
Members of the band were also playing various new instruments which they were able to purchase with assistance from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, to which the band are very grateful for their considerable support.
An under 16 quartet was entered playing the set piece "No. 3 from 12 German Dances". The quartet included Deborah Close, Ryan Elliott, Aimee Gilmour and Chloe Hanna.
Aimee Gilmour was entered in the under 13 concert solo section playing "To a Wild Rose from Woodland Sketches", while Jessica Warwick entered the under 16 concert solo section playing 'Andalouse'.
An open octet played 'Tango Mango' and 'Intermezzo' from Cavaleria Rusticana. The group included Lindsay Arthur, Joe Bingham, Aaron Fleming, Andrea Fleming, Lynette Gawn, Robert Hill, Fiona Mark and Matthew Warwick. They were placed 1st and picked up the Tom Sloan Snr Memorial Cup.
65th Anniversary Gala ConcertThe concert was compered by Mr Alan Beattie who teaches many of the band's younger members in Ballyclare Secondary School.
Castlegore A.F.B. opened the concert with the First World War march '1914', Extracts from Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore and Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana.
Miss Susan Bates, on harp, was our first guest artist. Susan from just outside Ballyclare is a talented young musician who has played in the past with Willie Drennan's Ulster-Scots Folk Orchestra, and has also performed in the U.S.A. with her own folk group, Bracken.
The Loughside Singers were the next to perform. The choir is an award winning young female group based in Belfast. They compete in various competitions at home and abroad, and sing a wide selection of music, ranging from contemporary classical pieces to gospel, traditional and pop music.
Our final guest artists were Risin' Stour. They are a well travelled Ulster-Scots folk group whose name drives from their early days rehearing in a joiners workshop!! The group featured Iain Carlisle on accordion/ keyboard, Andrew Carlisle in drums, Davy Mccomb on accordion, Matthew Warwick on guitar/ whistles and vocals from Kara Burnett.
The second half was again opened by Castlegore A.F.B. playing Le Reve Passe, Pirates of the Caribbean and Aurelia.
Loughside Singers performed next. Afterwards some of the solos and ensembles performed pieces from the F.B.A. Competition in April. The octet performed 'Tango Mango'; '12 German Dances' was performed by the under 16 quartet, Deborah Close, Ryan Elliott, Aimee Gilmour and Chloe Hanna; The solo 'To a Wild Rose' was performed by Aimee Gilmour accompanied on piano by Mrs Beattie.
Susan Bates and Risin' Stour performed a set before the band performed their finale of 'A Klezmer Karnival' to conclude a fantastic musical line up.
We would like to thank all the band members and their families who were involved in the organising and running of the concert, the artists who took part, the Staff and management of the Ross Park Hotel and the members of the public who attended and gave us their support making the concert a huge success.
